Editorials

Diminishing Assembly

The Monsoon Session of the Manipur Assembly lasted just four days. Except for the budget session, which by the compulsions of the number of bills to be passed, and departmental budgetary allocations to be made, is reasonably extended, all other sessions of the House are of the nature of the Monsoon Session the state just witnessed, remarkable more for their brevity than the important issues of the state they tackle. This is nothing less than pathetic. It is no consolation that everywhere in India the trend has been the same and state Assemblies have been miniaturised beyond recognition, while the executive wings of the governments have been allowed to grow in importance and power inordinately. This being the case, in the present times cabinet decisions have come to be held in far more public esteem than that of Assembly discussions or resolutions. The attitude is, the Assembly is a procedural necessity in matters such as passing of bills and nothing more. This is unfortunate for it amounts to a slow but systematic dismantling of democracy, a system of governance which has been described as rule by debate for the most exalted of these debates are also supposed to happen in the legislative assembly in the case of the states and the Parliament in the case of the Union government. In this light, the criticism from the state Congress yesterday of the holding of an all-party meet chaired by the chief minister at his office even while the Assembly was in session, and that the matter discussed in the all-party meet was also an agenda for discussion on the floor of the Assembly, is pertinent. First, as the Congress MLA, Kh. Joykishan petitioned the Speaker of the House, discussion of an Assembly agenda out of the Assembly may amount to a serious breach of Assembly rules, therefore attract serious censure. Second, and equally importantly, the meeting, even though conducted in good faith and with the best of intentions, it nonetheless undermines the importance of the Assembly. We only wish this all-party meet was held after the Assembly session had concluded. It is true all political parties, including those which are not represented in the Assembly are important, but in the democratic tradition, they cannot be more important than the elected members of the Assembly. We do hope such deviations from the rule of law by the government, which is supposed to be the custodian of the law, does not recur.

On the larger canvas, what we are witnessing in India and many other nations, especially those which have turned to right wing politics, is a disproportionate rise in the stature of the executive, threatening to dwarf the other wings of democracy, the legislature and judiciary. To this list of dwarfed institutions of democracy, we may also add the free media. Though there were signs of rebellion from within, we have seen how the judiciary at even the highest level has become subservient to the executive. This is also the route a great section of the most prominent media has chosen for themselves, as demonstrated most recently by the Cobra Sting operation exposes. The Parliament too today stands somewhat in the shadow of the larger than life image projected by the right-wing cabal, of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Without dispute the PM has come to be a towering figure today, but can any single leader be made taller than the collective leadership of the Parliament, is a disturbing question Indian democracy is called upon to ask itself today. The reality is, this is fear is already a reality.

If Delhi catches a cold, can Manipur remain without sneezing? What we are witnessing in the state too is a reflection of this same power equation in which the executive has become the sole centre of state power, and other pillars of democracy are reduced merely to appendages. The difference however is, here the drama is a proxy of Delhi, not one driven by its own engine. And so here we are, with the state Assembly hallowed only in image not in substance. The brand of politics in the state has further ensure this shrinking in public esteem of the Assembly. Can anybody imagine that there are eight defectors by the definition of the 10th Schedule of the Constitution, sitting in the Assembly as if there is nothing serious wrong with this? After more than a year, why have they still not been disqualified yet and made to return to the Assembly through byelections (if they win), as prescribed by the law? Even if politics in the executive world is a rough and tumble game, where below the belt punches are routine, why has the Assembly allowed itself to sink to the same level and allow itself to be a follower of the executive? The rot in the system indeed is deep.

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